#angsty romantasy it is

[blam-marie]

Finally have a decent blurb for The Gods Must Die, I think. Let me know what you all think about that:

Callahan Pandraken is a warrior princess, and she is prophetized to die while killing the shadow king who will try to invade her land. She has lived her entire life with that knowledge, but after an ill-advised tryst with the man in question, it comes out that HE was not previously aware of their shared destiny. Unwilling to die simply because the gods deemed it so, the shadow king Mordecai DeFirce renounces his plans of conquest. When he shows up unannounced at Tintagonal castle for peace talks, Callahan sees it as victory. The gods, however, see it as an insult. No one should be allowed to renounce their destiny; not even the villain. As they set forth to separate the happy couple and force a war between both kingdoms, Callahan must make a choice between the prophecy that has shadowed her entire life, or the terrifying path of rebellion and True Love. And in order to rescue the Shadow King and save her kingdom from war, the path seems clear; the gods must die.

[writerformanymuses]

idk why I always have to write the end before the beginning, but maybe that's because I'm a low-key angst goblin. anyway, banged out some words during lunch today since I've been reading during all my free time as of late. thought we needed this particular snippet from Howl!mand.

“Haven’t I?” He whispers before he regards their intertwined hands wound around the cell bars. The rot-touched skin begins to hum and pulsate with feverish return. “You are no fool to what happens between a maker and their first born. You know that half of one's heart is given in the exchange, and you, my dearest one, took more than a mere man’s heart. You took what morsels were left of the mortal soul within me, and, with every passing year, the beast takes and takes. You’ve become the bastion of all my humanity, and the keeper of every ounce of soul there is left of me. One day, when it is all gone from me and who I was once is but a memory, you will have it all. Be it all.” 

my friend @ me: you just had to curse him, didn't you?

me:

[strawberryforks]

cops & chaos // tim bradford x f!reader

(part 1/3)

warnings: violence, kidnapping, guns, uhh probably other stuff too

a/n: thank you @113littlecrime for requesting i lovelovelove a good angsty plot-line. also, i wrote this instead of doing my classwork (#pleasevalidatemypreferredprocrastinationmethods) and i’m really hoping this means that the writers-block is gone because i’ve written over 5k words today after a way-too-long break. four-something-thousand of them was fanfic but trust, i’ll get back to my originally scheduled program (my silly little romantasies) soon

You lost your phone during the struggle so Life 360, the app your boyfriend insisted you download, would not come in clutch. The only person you could rely on right now was yourself and you… well, you were a little bit busy. Tied up with something, if you will.

You wanted your phone–wanted whatever invasion of privacy you could get. As long as it screamed: Here! I’m right here! And now? You were regretting turning down the one-month anniversary gift Tim had tried to give you, too.

“Baby,” he’d said, “please take it.” Tim Bradford tried pushing the box with a custom necklace inside of it back to you. Upon first glance, you had loved it. Studded with your birthstone, you were in awe. Immediately, you plucked it from where it lie and studied it appreciatively. When your thumb and index finger brushed over the jewelry, Tim looked nervous. You repeated the motion and something poked you—you moved it closer to your eyes and barked out an anxious bout of laughter. An incredulous one. Your boyfriend of one month (sure, you had known each other forever. Gone to elementary school together, then to the military, then, after being discharged you had decided to join him in his next adventure: becoming a cop. You and Tim had known the inner workings of each other’s mind, always. You were best friends but the label was never strong enough; best friends but did things best friends didn’t. Tim and you went out to eat and he always insisted on paying. When he was anywhere he needed a DD–or anything really–you were who he called. Once upon a time, he would rescue you from shitty boyfriends, then, he’d be jealous of the decent ones. Happy for you, but jealous, as you wasted time better spent with another whatshisface. You realised pretty quickly that your relationship, the only serious one you ever had, wasn’t fulfilling you. When you realised what was missing, that Tim was missing, you broke it off, lest you lead on a poor bloke while being in love, because that’s what you were) with your best friend. Things went back to the normal you knew. For three more years, you and Tim were friends with all kinds of benefits and just… no label. It took a friend and coworker, Angela Lopez, starting a family for him to realise he wanted to, too. And sure, the two of you, with your unorthodox relationship could’ve moved in together and called yourself roommates. You could’ve eventually had kids and called yourself co-parents but Tim came to the conclusion he wanted to call you his, instead. You always had been but the label was nice) still, your boyfriend of one month had given you a necklace with a tracker in it and you were only one half of shocked and appalled. “Tim, no,” you told him. You handed the box back, necklace plopped unceremoniously inside of it. “That, just so you know, is crazy.”

You two argued. Nothing bad but nothing good, either.

“Please, it’s for your safety”//”I’m just as capable of taking care of myself as you are. Do you want to wear a glorified collar and be microchipped like a dog?”//”I’ll wear one if you do,” and you snorted at that one, but,//”No, Tim. I already downloaded that stupid app of yours. (Life 360) Just because we slapped a label on this—us—doesn’t mean you need my location every second of every day.”//”You already tell me where you’re going, Y/n/n–”//”Exactly! I already tell you where I’m going so this is unnecessary. It’s a pretty necklace so I’ll wear it on one condition”//Of course. Anything”//”The tracker comes out.”

You were stubborn and you were an idiot. So, while a pretty necklace, covered in your birthstone, rested below your collarbone it was useless. Pretty but useless: how you were feeling right about now. Well, scratch that… with your hands wrenched behind your back, your wrists rubbed raw from the rope that pinned them together, and the blood smeared on your cheek and dripping from your bottom lip, you weren’t feeling too hot. Pretty wasn’t a descriptor you could use unless it was a prefix. You were in a pretty shit situation, you had been pretty stupid, walking home alone in the dark when you had a feeling the black SUV parked at the gas station you shopped at was the same one that had been parked on your street when you went for your morning job. You were pretty embarrassed that you’d gotten into your current situation and moreover, you were pretty pissed off.

Tied to a shitty chair inside of a shitty warehouse you felt like the stereotypical victim and that was something that, in all your years on this earth, you had never been. Water dripped onto the ground from a hole in the rusted sheet metal roof and a crowd of thugs assembled a few dozen feet away from you. Some of them wore skee masks but the ones that were too dumb to, you cataloged, taking note of their appearances and adding them to your shit-list. When, not if, you got out of here you would make it your personal mission to send all of these losers to jail.

Wonder how they’ll like being trapped.

You’re getting ahead of yourself.

Way.

There’s duct tape covering your mouth and you lick it until there’s space between the plush of your lips and the grey of the tape. Some skin goes with but we can’t all be winners, can we? Then, able to speak again and ready to make them regret the shoddy attempt at shutting you up: spoiler they can’t, you start seeking some attention. “Hey assholes!” you yell, “you know you’re supposed to treat your house-guests well, right? I mean, you’re halfway there! Thanks for taking my coat, and all! (you’re fucking cold) But like, I could use some water. And not introducing yourselves? Dick move.”

You get your water. A bucket of it, thrown in your face.

Like a wet dog, you shake your head. Hair, weighed down by wetness, whips every which way. It slaps against your skin. Burns, a little.

You’re like a dog. A wet dog, shaking off. You snarl like a dog too, spit like one. You let them know you’ll bite like one, too, if the opportunity presents itself.

Your wrists twist behind you, toying with the rope. It doesn’t loosen, barely has any give, and all it does is chafe and chafe.

“I thought I told you to shut her up!” Shouted one of the mask-wearing men.

“You’re buddies are incompetent,” you spit, wishing you could swipe the water away from your face. The hair out of your eyes,

The man, the one whose running this circus you’ve unfortunately found yourself a part of stalks closer, and you figure this is as good of time as ever to try and figure out what the hell is going on. “What do you want?” you ask, cautiously, as he moves even closer.

His shadow falls over you like a cloak; like the rescue blanket the EMTS will drape over your shoulders if your cop-buddies find you, like the arms that would wrap around you if Tim, did, and like the black sheet that would cover you if it all went wrong. As skilled as you were - you weren’t naive and knew this situation was a precarious one. At any time, it could go bad. If you had an idea of the man’s motivation, maybe you could pull a Nolan. Talk to them until their ears bled and their hearts, too, until they let you go and begged for forgiveness in confession at a church. “What’s your plan here, bud? Why me?”

“Y/n L/n.”

Well that’s fan-fucking-tastic. It’s personal.

You pay special attention to his voice, then. To the man's brown eyes and the bushy eyebrows half-visible in the mask’s holes. It’s not familiar but… but maybe your wrong. In your various careers, both dangerous, you’ve seen many faces. On case files, mid-battle, on the street. This one is unspecial; nothing new. “That’s me,” you say (because the dude knows already)

“What’s your name?” you return wearing a too-shitty smile. Maybe you’re a glutton for punishment.

His calloused hand smacked into your face. A sharp sensation stung your cheek and the silver band he wore on his ring ringer (married? No way) sliced your flesh. You could feel it swell, wiped it onto your shoulder anyways. You bite your tongue, lest you say anything else that ends up with you being hit again. “What do you want? Is it money?” you don’t suggest the possibility that it’s revenge; you don’t want to give whoever this is the idea. You know it’s likely, know you’ve made enemies and–

“Your partner,” he sneers, “is digging around where he shouldn’t be. We figured that this would change his attitude, take something of his, and he would focus on you. Not… well, sweetheart, that’s none of your business.”

It was revenge. Not on you. Hm, you thought, I feel a little less shitty now that I know this isn’t all my fault.

“So what? You’re going to kill me? Distract him with grief?” You really hope that’s not the fucking plan. The man, he doesn’t react to your statement–it’s chilling and reassuring. Chilling, because the thought of death doesn’t phase him and reassuring, comforting, because he isn’t overtly eager. He doesn’t smirk, doesn’t smack you again.

“No. You’re worth more alive than in the ground, though… an unmarked grave might be how our plans change if you don’t cooperate. He’d keep searching until he found a body, wouldn’t he? So loyal, so determined. (You’re starting to think this guy has a thing for your boyfriend. A little crush, maybe?) So stupid, poking around where he doesn’t belong. If Tim doesn’t learn to play our game you won’t be the only one cold and gone.”

You cringed.

“You’re just going to keep me here, then? Tied up? Under lock and fucking key?”

“Under rope and duct tape, you mean.”

You can’t help it. It’s instinct first, then it’s a slowly brewing plan. You won’t let them hurt Tim; you’ve protected him before, will again. The mixture of spit and blood in your mouth passes your pursed lips and lands on the uppermost bridge of your kidnapper’s nose. “Dumb little–” and then there’s that hand, in your face again. This time he hit you so hard your head spun. Ears ringing, the chair you were tied to wobbled and hit the ground with a large crack. The stupid fucker left you like that, on your side, not mindful of your hands while he continued to gloat and monologue like some wannabe Doofensmirtz protege.

“Tim will be so busy looking for you he won’t realise that my guys, they’re looking for him. A bullet will do nicely, won’t it? WIA to KIA, just like that? Survive in the–”

In the military. This man is military.

You wonder how he got in. Wonder, how someone so stupid, so ignorant, so blinded by ego and cockiness, could’ve been trusted to serve the country.

You don’t find out.

Not as you’re stood back up and leaned against a wall (because one of the chair’s legs broke) not as your neck bends at an angle you know you’ll feel for weeks, and not as in your closed fist, sits a piece of broken glass.

[bluiela]

Imagine reading a romance book where a girl can choose between two guys and thinking she'll end up with the one who has "pleasant" "comfortable" interactions with her

And not the angsty and tension filled one where she initially doesn't like him

Tell me without tell me that you just self-insert and/or have never read a romantasy book

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

To add onto that Malleus popularity speculation, I think another major reason why that you never mentioned is the simple fact that characters of Malleus' archetype are just more popular in general in the west amongst working age women.

There are plenty of adult novel containing male supernatural love interests. Fae and vampire romance novels are still extremely popular amongst adult readers. A Court of Thorns and Roses is technically an ADULT novel, NOT YA. Even m|m supernatural stories even fall into this category with Stolas/Blitz from Helluva Boss being an extremely popular over here. That pairing is from an adult animated show. Stolas shares a lot of similarities with Malleus.

Hell, even if you step into western contemporary romance novels, the male love interest tends to be more brooding and angsty with flawed leads. Everything from classic literature like Jane Eyre to modern shit like anything Colleen Hoover writes. (Don't get it twisted. I'm NOT saying that Malleus is anything like those leads. Just using those very popular example of brooding bad boy love interests in adult contemporary fiction in the west.)

Meanwhile in East Asia, those sorts of leads tend to be geared towards teenagers. Working age women want a more stable, realistic love interest that would take care of them like Trey.

Westerners seem to prefer more complex, intense romantic relationships, where the stakes feel higher and the emotional payoff is more significant. They will naturally write Trey off as a "big brother" character instead of seeing him as a romantic lead material thanks to being more used to seeing characters like Malleus as the love interest in stories.

I could be way off base, since I'm not Asian and far from being an expert on Japanese culture, but that's my two cents based on my observations. This is also based on broad generalizations. Neither culture is a monolith.

[Referencing this post and (more specifically!) my speculation here!]

Oh, for sure 💀 I made a post a while ago talking about how Malleus (especially from the yumejoshi/self-shipping perspective) reminds me a lot of the new "Shadow Daddy" archetype that has emerged in the romantasy genre. I mean, just look at how many of the Shadow Daddy traits Malleus ticks off:

is a nonhuman being (usually fae)

500 yrs old (or at least several hundred years old or a significant age gap between the Shadow Daddy love interest and typically female main character)

looks young and hot/conventionally attractive despite the age

is OP (usually with shadow/night/darkness related magic)

is royalty or in some kind of position of power

dark hair and/or skin (sometimes both)

“morally grey” and/or has issues (you can fix him)

brooding

looks or is rumored to be intimidating but is actually lonely and misunderstood, with a heart of gold

animalistic in some manner (usually with bat/raven/dragon-like wings)

has a tattoo or some kind of bodily markings (Malleus has the scales under his hair; you could also count the OB facial markings I guess)

Outside of romantasy novels geared towards older teens (18-19) and adults, the west seems to really love brooding bad boys as love interests in a lot of its media. Something else I noticed is that the "good guys" or the "boy next door" types like Trey tend to be "the other man" in heterosexual love triangles, which miiight also explain why he gets looked over in the western fandom. (I discussed some of my own observations, which are similar to the points mentioned here, in the posts linked above.)

I wouldn’texactly phrase it like westerners preferring "more complex, intense romantic relationships [... with higher stakes and more significant emotional payoff]", as that unintentionally implies that there has to be brooding or angst in order for the story or character arc to be "good". I feel a lot of it actually depends on the execution rather than the tropes present. For example, I've seen many "Shadow Daddies" that exist purely for wish fulfillment rather than emotional or story/character complexity (which, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with if this is the kind of thing you enjoy!). Wholesome or "normal" romances also have the capacity to be complex, intense, high-stakes, and emotionally significant too! Again, it all depends on the quality of writing and what one's personal preferences are. You'll find outliers regardless of culture as well--as the asker has stated, no culture is a monolith!

[nivasichakano]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @patheticfangirl! Procrastination on a Monday? Don't mind if I do. 1. How many works do you have on AO3? 18 — 16 for BG3 and 2 for Arcane (sorry Jayvik one day I'll come back to you 😭) 2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

433,097 (never finished writing a thing in my life before I discovered Astarion, thanks darling).

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Hustle - What I want to write: angsty romantasy. What I actually write: Bloodweave YouTubers. I love these boys. WeaveStitch 4eva <3

Hiraeth - My First Fanfiction, an isekai about a BG3 gamer who finds herself dragged into Faerun. I didn't know how to use AO3 then, I tagged my OC, Astarion, and Gale in a threesome by accident, and Gale and Astarion are super horny for each other throughout because I didn't yet know it was my life's calling to write Bloodweave. But I'm proud of the ending and people still seem to like it.

What Friends Are For - Also known as, Nivasi discovers Bloodweave. This fic has my favorite chapters of anything I've written ever (chapters 11-13).

Driven - Meepbois 😭 I miss them so they're getting a one-year anniversary epilogue this year.

Snakes & Ladders - A silly one-shot enabled by the Bloodweave Brainrot Discord. No tadpole AU in which Astarion is sent by Cazador to steal from Gale.

4. What fandoms do you write for?

BG3 and Arcane. On a knife's edge about Invisible Boys and IWTV.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always. I'd like to pretend that I 'write for myself' but you know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you(r comments).

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Familiar is probably the angstiest thing I've written ('What if Gale's dad was one of Astarion's victims?'). Otherwise, Hiraeth has a very bittersweet ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Literally everything else.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Someone once compared Hiraeth to Twilight, which I consider to be hateful.

9. Do you write smut?

I mean... I try 😅 Not well?

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't, but I'm open to it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I think it'd be fun. HMU.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Bloodweave. I can't believe I'm still here over a year later. Just love 'em.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

*cries in Eurovision fic shame* I do actually really want to finish After the End, my Jayvik longfic too, since it's all plotted out. But I realised I can't work on more than one thing at once and Hellfire Club Bloodweave AU is dragging me into the hells at the moment.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I genuinely don't know how to answer this. Uhh, the ability to make absolutely everything a romcom?

Actually, I just came back to this one because I remembered that I can write the shit out of a first chapter. Give me any prompt and that first chapter will be with you in under an hour.

It's just finishing them that's the problem.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Making everything a romcom, if you hate romcoms, I guess. Other than that, oh, so many things: procrastination, repetition, cliches, getting distracted by shiny new ideas, autistic Gale + bbgirl Astarion

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I did it in Driven, because Astarion speaks French, and it taught me how not good Google Translate is. I ended up getting help from the lovely French Quarter of BWBR in the end, and would always go straight to this option in the future.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

BG3! This has been my first experience of fandom and my first time writing fics. I like it. You're all onto something here.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

I think it's got to be Driven. It's not as popular as Hustle, but I received the most surprising amount of love for this story. To the extent that it was actually emotional when it came to an end? Which I really wasn't expecting when I plonked a wizard and a vampire into F1 cars. Thanks meeple <3

* Riddle me this @badmarilynart @hylianworrier

[sweetfirebird]

I got questions in my AMA and my first group of upvotes (I thought were likes lol I don't know Reddit) for saying that I want more older scarred angsty smutty guys like in Witcher fic but in romantasy. Apparently, people agree.

[crisalidaseason]

Serious commentary on Onyx Storm:

SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE BOOK

Rating of the reading: 6/10

Don't get me wrong, there are incredible moments in this book where a lot of characters I love get to have some page time and do awesome things. Lots of iconic and fun scenes and we were fed angsty romance just the way I like it.

But that's it. Cool moments thrown together in rapid succession. Too much information, like too much! Some things that were never hinted at started to become an extremely important plot point (the whole dunne dedicated kids or whatever, no worldbuilding in previous books to allude to it whatsoever, which is wrong because the characters acted as if it was common, but we as an audience don't). Other things were left in complete background and could have been cut or shortened for the moment (sorry, but the grandmother thing simply came out of nowhere just to push a plot point that could have been brought otherwise)

I liked reading the book, it's not horrible, BUT it makes me worry for the future of the series because there is too many plot points too many little bits introduced and not solved, too much vital information thrown at the reader without being discussed again. I feel like I'm going to have to re-read this book often to be able to gather some sense of logic. And...well....it's romantasy, not game of thrones! People are not here to be consulting those books like some sort of academic text

Anticlimatic moments. Because of the rushed information and scenes, some iconic moments were embarassingly anticlimatic: violet's second signet (dreamwalking), Garrick's signet (how can you tell me Garrick is a wind wielder in OS, but not mention it in FW or IF, it was a unecessary mistery because wind wielders wear patches...), the isles were not at all exciting because it seemed like a videogame quest (I felt like I was in a Zelda game). Vi's squad honing their signets. XADENS MOTHER! Andarna leaving then coming back. All of these were cool concepts that get a little lost in the tornado of the story.

The ending was a mess, with too much information lacking. Having a cliff hanger and multiple POVs is fine-ish, but by gods what was that ending? Every book, even if its a series, needs a bit of closure!

Again: I liked the book, I do not hate it. I just think it was chaotic as fuck

[darlenicy]

As I am now a victim of the returning of my Driven hiperfixation I have to ask. The lack of scenes where Darcy drives on hoverbike is abysmal hence the idea. How would you imagine a AU where Riven accidentally comes across Darcy casually speeding through Magix ( when she isn't trying to take over the world at the moment, let is be any season of your choosing) and instead of saying anything, they make it their every odd day meetings. Driving on bikes, moaning about their problems, no one knows about anything.

Just a thought.

Love your work

The current favorite of mine is Let Me Go fic

awwwww girl x3

secret lovers! secret lovers! love the idea to be honest. nobody knows what they are doing so both take it easy but it is getting more and more serious. it was actually so much wasted potential. they let darcy ride that windglider only once! why did she know how to drive it? is it her secret hobby next to reading smut romantasy and cartomacy?

I can see her just wanting to clear her head and racing around incognito in Magix. Riven recognizes her simply because it makes sense. He knows her better than almost anyone else, he knows who just drove past him. He follows her and can't confront her, she's not doing anything criminal. And so it becomes a thing that they meet up, ride motorcycles and talk. About this and that, trivialities and before they know it, the old feelings are back. But they keep it a secret. It would be a scandal…..ohhh the potential! That has fanfiction potential, girl x3

thanks for sharing this beautiful idea!!

also thank you, that you like my art T_____T it means a lot! Let me go is so angsty...reread it when i rewatched season 2 and came to that episode. it's canon in my head, driven4life

[olderthannetfic]

The To Gaze Upon a Wicked God situation is more complicated than a straightforward "yes/no" on whether it's a colonizer romance or not imo.

I think the author wants to send an anti colonial message with the book, but it very much wants to have the cake and eat it too. It's written a lot like other "dark romantasy" and the marketing surrounding it went hard on the enemies to lovers thing (the Zutara comparisons especially was still being pushed even in late April). Iirc, the real love interest only appears for less than five scenes?

With that in mind, I don't think it's unreasonable to read the protagonist's rejection of the prince at the end as a set-up to a tortured "I love him but I can't trust him anymore because he's evil and lied to me" while Baihu simped for her in the background and the prince gets redeemed with a heroic act at the end of the second book or something. That was my impression until it was revealed that the childhood friend was the real love interest.

(Maybe I just read too many angsty "you killed my whole clan but I still love you even though I'm not supposed to" cnovels in my youth hahaha)

Imo, it was in really bad taste to do a fake out marketing, but idk if she has control over that. It feels like nobody around her understood how touchy the subject and her inspirations were, because none of these irl decisions wouldn't have happened if they did. I don't think the original anon had the right to comment like they understood everything without reading the book, but I completely get the feeling of "wtf girl you did not just write/say that." Also the writing was... not good.

I hope the "baihu cut" remedies a lot of its issues. Plenty of white authors write shit takes on history. Asian authors shouldn't be burned at the stake when they do the same

--

(Followup to last anon about to gaze upon wicked gods) One thing I forgot is that the author's notes directly mentioned the Japanese occupation and unit 731. I think it's reasonable for readers to make the connection between that and the Roman invasion + human experimentation mentioned in the book. I can't blame them from being grossed out or even outraged when everything irl points to Antony being the intended love interest even though he's the leader of in universe unit 731

I can well believe that it's mostly a skill issue.

People should be free to criticize a book for what's actually in there, but yeah, there's definitely this vibe like nonwhite authors or minority authors or whomever aren't allowed to just... not be very good.

I don't mean they should be free from all criticism, but there's a particular type of extra torches-and-pitchforks criticism that amounts to "Thou shalt be a godlike writer from birth or else!"

[mermaidsirennikita]

hi there! could you please recommend some romantasy books? a friend of mine has started reading romance books but they only want to read romance with fantasy or sci-fi elements and i want to give them recommendations but i don't really read romantasy so i have no idea what's good out there...if you could help that would be great!

Sure!

I would highly recommend Charissa Weaks's Witch Walker series. It's ongoing (the next book is due out this year) with two full length installments, a short story collection, and a (lengthy) novella so far. I really enjoy the world, the hero is different from a lot of what I read in fantasy romance (he's like... alpha in a lot of ways, but actually needs the heroine's help and isn't this corny weirdo) and you get several different couples, with aspects like villain romance, etc. This one has a lot of witchcraft-type magic, gods and goddesses, battle etc.

Huge of Kerri Maniscalco's Kingdom of the Wicked and Princes of Sin series. I'd recommend reading Kingdom of the Wicked first, which is a trilogy that has to be read in order about one couple. Princes of Sin is the spinoff series (2 books so far, a third in the works) which features standalone couples in the same world. KotW is advertised as YA initially, but the heroine is 18 in the beginning of the series. First book only has kissing, but uhhhhhhhh things escalate SIGNIFICANTLY starting in book 2. The Princes of Sin books are adult from the jump. This series has wonderful, varied settings, and a lot of it does in fact... take place in Hell lol. A decent amount of darkness without going too far, everyone is morally gray at best—it's so good.

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen is really good! The next book (it's a duology) is out this year. This is a viking-style fantasy romance. Our heroine has a Chosen One arc (but it's good) and this jarl identifies her as super powerful and coerces her into marrying him. But the person she's aaaaactually vibing with is his adult son, who's essentially assigned to be her bodyguard. QUITE forbidden.

Thea Guanzon has an ongoing series (two books so far) called The Hurricane Wars, and I really like it. The hero and heroine are actual, true blue, try to kill each other enemies, but some Secret Princess stuff happens, and in the long term you end up with a super fun arranged marriage plot. Notable in that Thea also bases a lot of her worldbuilding on Southeast Asia, which is a nice change from the typical Eurocentrism in fantasy romance.

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan is quite fun for dragon lovers, and book two is out this fall. The heroine is the royal whipping girl, which means she's raised like a princess but takes the literal whippings on behalf of the actual princesses. This warlord wants to marry one of the princesses for alliance purposes, and the king tries to trick him by having him marry our princess while she wears a veil... and the hero only figures it out RIGHT after the marriage is consummated. Oops!

If your friend is down for something light and funny in a semi-historical setting, India Holton writes such fun books with witches and assassins and flying pirate ships and magical birds. I'd recommend her across the board, starting with The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels.

Demi Winters has a darker, expansive, vikings-ish but more diverse (as in, not everyone is white) series that has a really good slow burn core romance. Starts with The Road of Bones.

Kit Rocha has a really fun duology called Bound to Fire and Steel that's FFM—the princess heroine marries the dragon shifter/god hero, with the intention of assassinating him. She's already involved with her handmaiden (who's an assassin) but ends up falling for her husband as well... And then he and the handmaiden get involved. Very angsty and hot.

C.L. Wilson's Weathermages of Mystral series is so good... and she hasn't released the third book and it's been years... but fortunately, the first two books largely stand alone. The Winter King is an arranged marriage book to kick it off; the heroine marries the hero after he conquers her kingdom in revenge for her brother killing his whole family. So! Big enemies to lovers! So tropey and passionate, I love it.

Ruby Dixon's Aspects and Anchors series (all books can stand alone, I like all of 'em) is a super kooky yet also quite dark and violent at points fantasy romance in which women from our world get catapulted into an extradimensional fantasy world lol.

A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane is a really high fantasy romance with intense adventure and big emotions and, again, true enemies to lovers. This is the one where the heroine seals her alliance with the hero by giving him relief~ while using her brother's blood.... to reduce friction.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

“literally just reskinned from an all white One Direction fanfic about an alien invasion. Which itself borrowed liberally from Red Queen”

????????

Red Queen seems to be really influencing a lot of YA and adult romance these days but it was never that good…

Anyway, I have no basis for my prediction but books like Fourth Wing (YA style adult book with smut) will probably continue to drive the adults who were stuck reading YA to the increasing market for those types of books. So YA itself with no breakout titles and no clear trends may try to put out more experimental work. It would be nice to see that since they don’t have to pander to adults as much anymore.

Also, I think that publishers may not be open to the more “diverse” brown/black girl books because of mostly white audiences. The editors themselves are mostly white. Mafi’s new series did not do as well and she’s going back to writing in the Shatter Me world. I do think Legendborn brought something new but I mean, the two tropey white love interests obviously are a huge draw along with how Shadowhunter-y the story is. It’s familiar and self insert-y in a way that a more “diverse” book isn’t. Not sure what could be done about this because it keeps YA stale. Their goal is selling books no matter what.

Re: this post

So I was doing a deep dive through Molly Chang’s socials after I finished her book because I was so bewildered by it. Turns out she got her start writing One Direction fanfiction on Wattpad. Gaze Upon Wicked Gods started out as Harry Styles fanfiction where he’s the angsty prince of an invading alien race and the protagonist is like a contemporary human living in the U.S. or UK. I’ve forgotten but it was definitely a western environment. Her soon to be published vampire book is almost definitively her more popular Zayn Malik story which was also a very like white European fantasy setting

Anyway Red Queen was horrible when it came out! But enough worse books have come out since that I have to give it some props. It was pretty influential back in the day as well— iirc it was patient zero for the trend shift from dystopian to court fantasy. So I’m not particularly surprised that it still has impact on the genre

I’m not sure about your prediction tbh! I could see it happening, but also Romantasy rn is such a homogenous genre (it’s literally all ACOMAF carbon copies) that you still end up finding more variation in YA. And, perhaps ironically, more variety is how we got the YA boom, and the category as it exists now, in the first place.

Basically, for the longest time, genre romance was (and has been) leaving money on the table because of its adherence to very strict formula, and dated norms. Around the Twilight craze, and the slew of paranormal romance copycats, YA ended up getting the attention of adults who weren’t necessarily interested in the strictness of adult genre romance. Because it was putting out so many romance heavy books, but the plots typically had more going on, and tended to just play out in ways that genre romance did not allow.

Publishers realized that catering to these adults was way more lucrative, and also that they could apparently endlessly chase trends to keep the interest going. And that’s how we’ve ended up where we’re at.

The thing is, Romantasy right now, is attempting nearly what the original New Adult category was attempting back in the early 2010s. They did try to launch New Adult! Major publishers, and a fair bit of indie ones, figured that if adults were really into YA, then doing the same thing but explicitly aimed at a more mature audience, and therefore more explicit, would be a slam dunk. But in trying to codify the tropes and shape it into its own thing, it was basically… a lot of very similar books that just had a lot of sex scenes. At the time, the main YA trends were still mostly contemporary, and the Fifty Shades craze had just happened. So NA was primarily just a lot of college set books with a ton of interchangeable CW plots, and the occasional like stalker/kidnapper/serial killer romance. And it tanked! Because it was so homogenous!

The few successful titles ended up splintering off into indie Dark Romance. But otherwise the experiment was essentially scrapped and trad publishers went back to YA and decided to just cram it full of sex scenes too lol. Which is how we got Sarah J Maas.

Fourth Wing’s boutique publisher (can’t remember the name off the top of my head) is basically singlehandedly trying to revive New Adult as an industry term and category. But I don’t think it’s going to happen tbh. Readers may use the term, but it’s really not a thing anymore if you talk to anyone involved in sales, book acquisitions, or marketing.

Romantasy is the real current attempt at a successor that actually has a chance. That being said, I’m skeptical because of several reasons. First, it already has a narrow scope by definition, you only get books with romance A plots in a fantasy setting. Second, it inadvertently ended up snuffing out several existing adult subgenres: Fantasy Romance, which, I know it’s confusing, but I promise it’s something different lol. These were Fantasy first books, that either had strong romance subplots or(!) were structured according to genre romance rules. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but it was doing well from the 80s to the mid 2000s basically. The key difference is that like. the worldbuilding and the plot mattered a lot. And it was primarily occupied by like LOTR and Mists of Avalon type copycats. The second sub genre is like the Sabriel type books. These are the “girly” Fantasy books that were frequently romance optional but about female protagonists and primarily aimed at women. So already we’ve lost variety, in search of the next big thing. And SFF trad acquisitions are alarmingly few, so it is something of a zero sum game. More worldbuilding lite SJM copycat Romantasy does directly mean there’s less of the other stuff.

But then on top of that, the only thing they’re pursuing seems to be ACOMAF rip offs, or the odd Reylo court fantasy. It’s a very narrow set of parameters. I suspect, unless there’s a pivot soonish, that they’re going to end up hitting over saturation and crash and burn like OG New Adult.

And then those readers will go back to indie and YA books

[void-my-warranty]

hello. first of all, i love that your ask thing is beg so pls imagine me on my knees, hands clasped, pleading with u as i ask:

MILORD, HAVE U READ THRONE OF GLASS?

i noticed those fourth wings fics (i hail from the land of COD) and have always wondered which romantasy novels you’ve read!!

Will you hate me if I say I didn’t care for the series? My favorite of them was the Chaol book that everyone hates for some reason. (But Agatha Christie raised me and I LOVE murder mysteries.)

Here’s a list of books I love enough to reread:

A Court of Thorns and Roses series (gets bad after book 3 tho)

From Blood and Ash series (gets meh after book 3 tho)

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith (my fav book of all time - makes your inner child sing - no spice)

Cruel Prince (no spice) whole series is good

The Hating Game (modern - movie is excellent)

Twilight (the melancholy, angsty vibes are unmatched, okay? We all know it’s not good)

Here’s a list of books I enjoyed, but won’t reread:

Fourth Wing (tho the second book made me so mad I stopped writing fanfic for it lmao. The world is cool, the main ship is just too toxic for me to enjoy, and the MC lacks basic self awareness which drives me crazy)

Divine Rivals

Once Upon a Broken Heart (no spice)

A Touch of Darkness

Hunger Games

Here’s a list of popular books I read but didn’t like (just my personal opinion)

Throne of Glass series (too many povs, plot was not compelling enough for me for how long the series was.)

Crescent City (too full of information to keep my attention, and the personalities of the MC and love interest clashed in a toxic way imo. I did cry when the sad thing happened at the end tho)

Shadow in the Ember series

Serpent and Dove (SUPER toxic personality clash — I just like reading people who fit together, okay? 😣)

Neon Gods (read it because it has some of my main kinks, but it was so poorly done that it gave me massive ick)

Kingdom of the Wicked (there just wasn’t chemistry between the MC and the love interest. MC wasn’t self aware and it drove me crazy. Stopped reading after book 2)

Bridge Kingdom (SO stressful. I ended up DNFing it at the end because it was giving me a panic attack. Also no chemistry.)

It Starts with Us (I wanted to see what the fuss was about with Colleen Hoover. HORRIBLE. Triggering beyond belief, the way the MC rationalizes abuse and doesn’t maintain boundaries in her own mind. DNF)

Outlander (Everyone rags on GOT for glorifying SA, but this was just as bad. Wish I would have DFNed it after I got super triggered by the love interest literally beating his wife (the MC), and the way it was rationalized. It got much, much worse. Didn't read past the first book.)

[mandalhoerian]

Oh em geee u read manhwa?! Can you share ur list? I haven’t seen anyone on tumblr who reads manhwas

anon i don't have lists i keep track of i'm unfortunately not that organized. i bookmark a manhwa and then forget about it until it updates :( but i can share personal favorites !! but i do favor isekai, romantasy and historical ones because i want to turn my brain off, so, WE LISTEN WE DON'T JUDGE. i've been around ever since the genesis of childcare isekai (like. emperor's daughter explosion) so you might have already gone through these but. yeah. i never said i was original 😭🤙 these are off the top of my head!

1- miss not-so sidekick: this is my favorite of all time, it's my comfort manhwa i go back to it all the time i absolutely adore the humor. arwin and latte are MY LOVES. i haven't seen any leads on arwin's level ever after this and i go through withdrawals, he was something else

2- the reason why raeliana ended up in the duke's mansion - one of the ogs and another favorite of mine god i love the leads (NOAH SUPREMACY). i was over the moon when this got an anime !!!!

3- who made me a princess: listen i know alright. I KNOW. but the art is divine and i love claude despite him being the biggest of dicks and a trash father, he makes things so interesting AND he's so iconic that all of the emperor's daughter manhwas are a copy of him for a reason ok. i'll never forget the period of suffering i went through after he went into his sleeping beauty era. i never said my taste was great ok. (also lucas having long hair may or may not be a factor because i love long haired men)

4- villainess in love: the romance is amazing in this, adult relationship between mature leads with so much cuteness. yunifer >>>>

5- the count's secret maid: this is a fairly new manhwa but i loved it so much that i actually went and read the novel of it and cried my fucking eyes out. im eagerly waiting it to be adapted . the female lead paula is amazing i want to protect her from the world

6- for better or for worse: this is another one of the comedic ones but the leads have such a funny chemistry I LOVE THEMMMMMM

7- i fell into a reverse harem game: no comment....... ahem

8- happily ever afterwards: LISTEN this starts out as cringefail with the fl peony's delusions (SECOND HAND EMBARRASSMENT) about wanting to marry her favorite second male lead richt in the novel she isekai'd in but it really gets so cute & realistic that it shocked me. i love love love this

9- the villainess wants a divorce: another og . the art is DIVINE and all the male characters are eye candies. one of those "omg noooo the original plot whatever shall i doooooo im destined to die in the end" ones. alas i go "omg then what???" every time. also, ceasar's a puppy i want him so bad

10- a villainess for the tyrant: another favorite of mine. this is one of the rare manhwas that there exists side couples, and all of them are amazing. yes please

11- not sew-wicked stepmom: this is on the same wavelength as "miss not-so sidekick" !! the ml in this has gone through sexual abuse and the representation is amazing, take this as your trigger warning!

12- let's hide my little brother: the dude in this has been dressed and forced to be a girl all his life because of plot reasons and has his heterosexual awakening thanks to the female lead. he's also a yandere yes. but his long luscious pink hair has seduced me i wished he never cut it

13- the villain's savior: an underrated gem tbh i love a villain acting like a villain

14- i failed to oust the villain: a yandere guilty pleasure

15- the villainess flips the script: tooth rotting fluffy dynamic between fl and ml, a dynamic cast, and such a feel-good read

16- i married the male lead's dad: another fluffy read but it turned angsty SO FAST. the male lead is the greenest flag ever i adore him. but you are NOT ready for the plot....

17- i became the tyrant's secretary: what's wrong with secretary kim but make it romantasy isekai LMFAO . she HAS HIM ON A LEASHHHHHHHHH

18- villains are destined to die: I FUCKING FORGOT. This is like on top of my list. I WANT TO GET PENELOPE OUT OF THERE. I HATE DERRICK ALL MY HOMIES HATE DERRICK. Also if you like sylus you are going to LOOOOOVE callisto he's sooooo UHHHUHJFHJFHFJ!!

19- flower and the beast: a comedy! not a chapter went by where i wasnt smiling. love this it's a fluffy read

20- syrinx the villain healer: girlboss and spicy malewife . shockingly, drawn by bwat (who does bl) so the art was right up my valley 😭

21- common story of a lady's new life: misunderstandings galore BUT I LOVE ITTTTTT

22- your majesty please spare me this time: this one is quite angsty and layered, i love the complicated nature of the female lead laliette and her devotion to her family (who aren't that innocent) and overall the theme of family and the inability to let go. a great read

23- becoming the dark hero's daughter: I LOVE THE DAD. I LOVE THE DAAAAAAAADDD UGH IM STILL WAITING FOR THE SECOND SEASON

[vaguely-damp]

My spicy romantasy mlm book is free on amazon for ebook until Oct 27th!

Recommended if you like:

gay monsters

so much smut that I worked so hard on

a romance that is actually very cute and sweet despite all appearances of being angsty (I super pinky promise)

HEA - the only ending I write

You can get it here.

Blurb:

Sirens are known for their beauty and grace. Everything from their lithe figures to their perfectly symmetrical faces to the cadence of their voices is designed to charm. Pleasure of the flesh is how they sustain themselves. So, of course, Detective Carver would be the one siren lucky enough to hate sex.

Ever since his husband died, Carver has resented the defining feature of his race, but when his boss calls in someone to assist with his investigation, he finds himself confronted with a problem he never expected—attraction. Jian is supposed to be just an analyst, buttoned-up and stiff and unassuming. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, he can put on a nice smile and act polite enough, but there's something behind his eyes that's decidedly not professional. That hunger for carnal satisfaction Carver thought long dead starts to come back to life as they work together.

And he has to wonder if he's just starving or if this is a craving.

[justallihere]

Hi there :)

Maybe this question was asked already. If so, sorry for repeating.

Do you plan some major battle in sinq? And do you like writing such stuff? I normally read epic fantasy. And battles are quite exciting in many books. Fourth Wing is my first romantic fantasy reading. And I must say that the battle of Resson was very confusing as for me. Wondering if romantic writers in general don’t like these scenes.

Hi!! This is kinda both a yes and a no because yes? But also no in that the actual fighting isn't really going to be the point of that scene? It will, as always, be an emotional and angsty affair above all else.

In general I don't like fighting/battle scenes. It's just not my strong suit to write and I have more fun with the interpersonal interactions and the emotional/mental toll of it all. And the romance :)

I think with the romantasy genre the books are always going to be romance first and fantasy second, so I never expect to see the most intricate or well-crafted fighting! I think we're all just suffering through it for the sake of the plot lmao